[The feasibility of pretherapeutic diagnosis of malignant pharyngeal processes using high-frequency cineradiography]

The differentiation between stage T3 and stage T4 pharyngeal tumors is of crucial importance for the proper therapeutic approach (surgery, surgery with consecutive radio- or radiochemotherapy, chemotherapy). The clinical relevance of the additional information provided by cineradiography was evaluated in combination with the endoscopic and computed tomographic results. We performed static and dynamic pharyngography with mono- and double-contrast-methods in four planes, including pharyngeal distension (Valsalva's and Müller's maneuver) and phonation. For the dynamic study, high-speed cineradiography (35 mm film, 50 frames/s) was used. Twenty-three patients with histologically proven neoplasms were examined. It was determined that surgery was technically feasible in 4 out of 14 patients who were previously presumed to have inoperable tumors. In 2 cases, an extension of the tumor mass was seen by cineradiography (results proven intraoperatively).